June 18, 1886.1 



SCIENCE. 



547 



E. G. Bourne, on a view of trade and industry in 

 Europe in the middle ages. 



— On Aug. 25 next, Prof. Edward Zeller of Ber- 

 lin will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 

 attainment of his doctorate. The many old pupils 

 and friends of the learned historian and philoso- 

 pher intend to present him on this occasion with 

 his picture or bust, as a slight mark of their ap- 

 preciation of his services to the cause of human 

 knowledge. The movement was started in Berlin 

 by some of Professor Zeller's associates, and the 

 original announcement of their intention is signed 

 by Bonitz, Dilthey, Eucken, Erdmann, Kuno 

 Fischer, Helmholtz, Kronecker, Mommsen, Max 

 Muller, Von Sybel, and many others. The names 

 of all those who contribute to the fund will be 

 communicated to Professor Zeller, and it is hoped 

 that America will be well represented. Contri- 

 butions may be sent to Prof. T. G. Schurmann, 

 15 West 5Tth Street, New York City, or to Prof. 

 Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia college. 



— M. Ch. Bouchard has recently supplemented 

 his observations on the toxicity of urine by the 

 following ones. The increase in the production 

 and elimination of the poison begins immediately 

 after rising, and commences to diminish at about 

 the middle of the waking period. Abstinence 

 from liquids inci eases the toxicity, owing to the 

 superabundance of incompletely oxidized matters 

 excreted. Severe muscular labor notably, some- 

 times to the extent of nearly one-half, diminishes 

 the toxicity, not only in the waking state, but also 

 in the succeeding period of sleep. Compressed 

 air diminishes immediately and markedly the 

 toxicity, to be more largely increased afterward. 



— Recent examinations of the bottom of the 

 Lake of Constance and of Lake Geneva by Horn- 

 limann have brought out the interesting fact that 

 the Rhine and Rhone rivers have excavated deep 

 channels for long distances. The current of the 

 Rhine can be followed for two kilometres, at a 

 depth of one hundred and twenty-five metres be- 

 low the surface of the water : while that of the 

 Rhone has been traced more than six kilometres 

 from the mouth-, at a depth of between two hun- 

 dred and two hundred and fifty metres. 



— The production of gold in the gold-fields of 

 the Australian colonies during 1885 reached in 

 value £5,831,468. The total amount from the 

 year of its discovery to 1886 is 79,194,094 ounces, 

 valued at £310,865,718. There has been a con- 

 siderable decrease in production during late years. 



— The natural-history section of the Imperial 

 Russian geographical society has decided to send 

 an expedition, during the present year, into cen- 



tral Asia, to explore the region of Khan Tengri, 

 which has never been visited by European travel- 

 lers. 



— The statement in Science (vii. No. 174) that 

 Prof. C. U. Shepard presented his cabinets to 

 Amherst college was not strictly accurate. In 

 accordance with an agreement of long standing, 

 the college purchased Ms collections, and paid 

 forty thousand dollars for them. 



— Lieutenant Greely, the arctic explorer, who 

 is entitled to his promotion to a captaincy in the 

 U. S. cavalry in consequence of the retirement of 

 General Sturgis. is not likely to be appointed to 

 the vacancy in the adjutant-general's department, 

 and it is possible he will not be promoted at all on 

 the active list, for the reason that he has declared 

 himself, undoubtedly with justification, unable to 

 render active service. The generous thing for 

 congress to do is to provide a place on the retired 

 list, with ample rank, for Lieutenant Greely, in 

 honor of his services and sufferings in the arctic 

 regions. 



— The new scientific building of Smith college, 

 Northampton, Mass.. will be dedicated Tuesday, 

 June 22. The address will be by Prof. J. Peter 

 Lesley. 



— The extreme delicacy of the sense of smell 

 in man has been shown by a series of experiments 

 by Messrs. Fischer and Penzoldt. In an empty room 

 of 230 cubic metres capacity, and tightly closed, 

 a small quantity of the substance to be detected 

 was thoroughly mixed with the air, and the observ- 

 er then admitted. Among different substances it 

 was found that the smallest amount recognizable 

 was .01 of a milligram of mercaptan. This quan- 

 tity diffused through the room sufficed to make 

 its distinctive character appreciable in the small 

 volume of ah* coming in contact with the nerves 

 of the nose, from which it was estimated that the 

 1 : 460,000,000 part of a milligram of this sub- 

 stance was recognizable. Hitherto the spectro- 

 scope has been considered the most delicate of all 

 means of analysis, indicating less than the mil- 

 lionth part of a milligram of sodium ; but the 

 sense of smell, in the case of mercaptan at least, 

 is seen to be at least two hundred times more 

 delicate. 



— Prof. S. F. Baird, U.S. commissioner of fish 

 and fisheries, has recently received from the De- 

 partment of fish-culture of the lower Seine. France, 

 a gold medal as an acknowledgment for some 

 valuable sendings of fish ova. The medal was 

 designed by Oudine. On the obverse is repre- 

 sented a female head bound with a chaplet of 

 cereals. Legend : ' Republique franchise.' On 



